Hindi and Urdu are twin languages, as if they were one soul in two bodies. While they have the same language structure and are mutually intelligible at the beginning level, Hindi draws its vocabulary and script from Sanskrit and Prakrit, and Urdu draws from Persian and Arabic. Together they give a glimpse into the beauty and multitude of South Asian languages, literatures, arts, religions, philosophies, history, and present society.

The Hindi-Urdu program at University of Hawaii is designed to be project-based, creative, and interdisciplinary. Our students come from over 40 departments across campus from the Sciences, Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences. We bring our multidisciplinary interests and stories into the classroom and create our own projects in Hindi and Urdu. This not only makes language learning personally meaningful, we also reinvent ourselves and connect with one another in a new way, in the new language-world. Visit our Digital Stories that the students and instructors create together as part of the language learning process. See how Beginning Hindi students celebrate the multitude of languages they speak, how a Math student writes an introspective poem – Who am I? – about his favorite mathematical concept; how a Japanese student talks about her Daily Routine; how an Indo-Guyanese student recites her Travel Diaries. There are many more…

Prof. Sai Bhatawadekar has expertise in 8 languages; she has taught Hindi and built Hindi-Urdu language programs since 2001, before which she used to teach German. She has received several awards for her innovative and creative teaching practices, including the Board of Regents award in the University of Hawaii system. Her research expands in Cross-cultural Philosophy and Religion; Film, Theatre, and Dance; and Second Language Acquisition. She is also an award winning theater director, choreographer, dancer, poet, and a short-film maker. Major grants that she has received include The Templeton Foundation Grant for Religious Studies, and Department of Education Grant for Hindi Digital Storytelling.

Visit our Center for South Asian Studies, which organizes numerous cultural and academic events to enhance the study of South Asia. It offers a number of scholarships for students and faculty to visit, study, and conduct research in India.

Language Certificate: Hindi-Urdu

Upon completing 15 credit-hours beyond the intermediate level with a 3.0 GPA in their coursework, the student may apply for a Certificate in Hindi-Urdu. More details about language certificate.